An incredible day describes very little of the guest experience at the Caiman Ecological Refuge during this week. When leaving for a photographic safari the guests found a jaguar on the edge of a water hole. And as if that was not enough, its cub appeared to the surprise of everyone.
Caiman’s guests meeting the jaguars.
Thanks to the Habituation Programme of the Caiman Refuge and the Onçafari Project as well as all the techniques learnt from Lawrence, Simon and the experiences we had at Londolozi many Caiman guests are having incredible wildlife experiences viewing jaguars. The animals are getting so accustomed to vehicles that they now fall asleep next to the car. Check out the photo below that shows the jaguar cub breastfeeding on its mother, evidence of how this project is being conducted with responsibility and respect for nature. Soon after feeding the cub fell asleep.
Cub breatfeeding
Jaguar cub sleeping.
Besides the tranquility of the cub, we can see how the mother jaguar was confortable with our presence there. She started to play and roll in the sand at the edge of the water hole. Shortly after she fell asleep too. At this moment we got our way out leaving them in the same place where we have found them without disturbing the wildlife.
The Caiman Ecological Refuge offers one of the best wildlife experiences in Brazil and is increasingly able to show visitors wild Jaguars in their natural environment.
Sleeping
Written & Photographed by: Helder Brandão (Caiman Environmental Manager)
Coming to the Pantanal in August–magnificent animals!
Congratulations on all your habituation and conservation efforts! It is indeed wonderful to be able to see such gorgeous animals in their natural setting!
All these cats are so strikingly beautiful! This may be a silly question, but how do you tell the difference between leopards and jaguars?
Never a silly question Mary! I agree that is can be difficult to tell the difference, especially when looking at pictures as they do not give a good perspective of size. One of the major differences is that the Jaguars are a lot bigger that Leopards, sometimes almost double the weight. The Jaguar although heavier than the leopard is shorter and stockier, and the leopard has longer legs and is a little more lean. The jaw of a jaguar is a lot stronger than the leopard because they break their prey’s skull in order to kill it and the leopards rather suffocate their prey. Another major difference is their habitat, leopards are found in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East while jaguars are found in South and Central America.
I hope that this has helped with your question.
Kindest regards,
Kate Neill
breathe taking animals…. beautiful pictures…. thank you all
Thank you great photos, I was thinking about the same question as Mary, what is the difference between the two
Thank you for sharing. What a wonderful opportunity to view one of natures magnificent creatures. Also thanks for the explanation of the differences between the Jaguar and the Leopard.
Thank you for sharing and explaning the diffrence between these AWESOME
creatures!!!!
Thank you kate, now we know
Thanks Kate!!! Your explanation was so helpful! 🙂
Hi Kate,
I was wondering whether there’s any difference with the coat patterns of the two big cats…?
Could you shed some light on this?
Hi Henry. There is a ver subtle difference on the pattern of the coat, the markings on their coats are both called Rosettes. The rosettes on a jaguar’s coat are larger, fewer in number, usually darker, and have thicker lines and small spots in the middle that the leopard lacks.
I hope this helps!
Thanks,
Kate